Sunday, October 2, 2011

Spark is helping people in Gisagara to improve their
lives

By Muhire Jean Claude

Spark Microgrants is currently working with many communities in
Rwanda.As a facilitator, I am working
withthe Gisagara community which
in a rural area located in the southern province, Gisagara District.

In the community, many of the community
members grow crops like maize, beans and cassava and
also make clay pots.Talking to people
that live in this community, the pots that they make are very cheap in
comparison to the time and effort they spend making them.

Some communities in Rwanda are facing challenges such as food
insecurity, access to clean water, and problems caused by lack of hygiene.Spark Microgrants is helping this community
to create a sustainable solution to one of the biggest challenges they identified, which is the problem of food insecurity.

The process of selecting this project was done by the community
itself when they were divided into three groups to discuss sustainable
solutions for the food insecurity.Each
group had a different solution like growing pineapple, breeding animals such as
pigs and goats, growing cassava. After
discussing together, each group explained to the other members of the community why they
prefer their project.

For those that chose to breed animals, the reason for them was the
benefit manure, but they were convinced that these animals can’t be as
productive as they'd hope.Those that
chose to grow pineapple were convinced by the others that pineapple is good, but
according to the problem of food insecurity, they shouldn’t plant pineapple because
they will have to wait for a long period to solve the problem of food.

Finally, the cassava group successfully convinced everyone in the community
that cassava is good for the climate of the Gisagara region.In terms of making money, they assured Spark
that they have a market where cassava is expensive so that they will sell it at a
good price.

Moreover, after this discussion, they realized that cassava is a
good crop for the community because it is productive and can be sold at a good
price at 180 Rwandan francs per kilogram.They also have an idea of how they can store the harvest by wetting the cassava in water and then drying it in order to transform it in flour to make cassava posh. After agreeing on this
project of planting cassava, the next step was to think about how they can
implement the project.They drafted a
proposal that included a budget, materials they will need for the project and how
they will manage the harvest, which is very important as it ensures the
sustainability of this project and how the project will solve the problem
of food insecurity.

This community was further united as they discussed together as
members of the community and decided that what they will rotate
cassava
with pineapple and rent another piece of land to continue with cassava.People in Gisagara hope that this project will
not only help them to overcome the problem of food insecurity, but also they
will be able to afford medical insurance. The community of Gisagara is composed
of 87 members both men and women who are willing to work as community to
develop their families and they are starting the project on 3rd October
2011.